The Battle of Salamis

[herakles]

I ask this question: name the 5 most important battles in history.

My criterion is that they have to have had a profound effect on world history.

Not an easy task!

I rank the battle of Salamis as one of them as because of the Greek victory, their civilisation remained intact and they went on to have such a huge impact on Western civilisation. Had they lost, it all would never have happened.

Xerses the Persian king was determined to destroy Greece. He had a huge army and navy and in 480 BC, he crossed the Dardanelles at the Hellaspont by building a bridge there and attacked. The Greeks were unable to stop him. Whilst they had victories, Xerxes kept advancing.

The famous battle at Thermoplyae only slowed him down. Eventually he started to sack Athens and the Athenians prepared to flee. Th fleet gathered off Athens near the island of Salamis to help with the evacuation.

But the Oracle at Delphi, making one of those mystical statements had said that Salamis bring death to women's sons and that that the Greeks would be saved by a "wooden wall".

Themistocles (Θεμιστοκλῆς) the Athenian leader, took this to mean the Greek navy.

Not a great deal about the battle is known today. Much of what we know is based on the later writings of Herodotus. What is certain is the the Greek navy was outnumbered 2-1.

But they had the advantage of choosing the battlefield and Salamis was perfect. This factor is so often the key to victory in any battle. Consider how Hannibal was so victorious in Italy despite being heavily out-numbered every time.

When the Persian fleet arrived, the Greeks retreated forcing the Persians to follow them. They then found themselves in a confined space where they couldn't manoeuvre whereas the Greeks with their smaller ships could.

A breeze came up which caused the big Persian ships to rock a lot. Hence making it very hard for the Persian archers to fire accurately. The Greeks ships were unaffected. And the Greeks had Marines - their hoplites on board.

The navies then rammed each other over and over again. And the Greeks possessed embolon on their prows which was very effective in ramming.

It didn't take too long for the battle to turn. The Persians fled trying to get back to the Hellaspont. Thermistocles urges that the Greeks go to the Hellaspont to cut the bridge but bitter internal wrangling ensued and it was never done.

The Persians never tried it again.

Ὦ παῖδες Ἑλλήνων ἴτε,
ἐλευθεροῦτε πατρίδ', ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ
παῖδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τέ πατρῴων ἕδη,
θήκας τε προγόνων:
νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών.

which means:

Forward, sons of the Greeks,
Liberate the fatherland, liberate
Your children, your women, the altars of the gods of your fathers
And the graves of your forebears:
Now is the fight for everything.

Ask any Greek today about Salamis and he will talk for hours, especially over an ouzo or three.

[The Sailor]

Hey herk! Who do you think I am? I wouldn't know a Greek from a Chinaman.
To me ancient history means very little.

If we want to talk modern history I will give an opinion on what I think are the five most important sea battles in history.

1] The Spanish Armada.
2] Trafalgar
3] Coral Sea
4] Midway
5] The Battle of the Atlantic

It is obvious that these battles did not affect all mankind in the same way.
Firstly it is speaking from the English language peoples perspective including America.
Secondly, numbers 3 and 4 had virtually no relevance to Britain.

But all five had specific relevance to Australia one way or another.

[TheDigger]

Intersesting here Sailor you note the defeat of the Spanish Armada in what way do you believe it had an effect on us poor Aussies. If not defeated would we have been speaking Spanish.

Certainly the last three had some effect on Australian History perhaps we would be speaking Japanese

[The Sailor]

Digger, you might like to remember back to that place called school when we learnt stuff about certain people coming out with the first fleet in 1788.
If Drake hadn't beaten the bloody Spanish Armada, the first fleet if it happened would have spoken Spanish.

[TheDigger]

School I remember it well but it was so long ago

[dennis a feary]

Hello Sailor, (woops !!) As DRAKE was not the commander of the English Fleet at the time. He was The Earl of Effingham (no kidding !!) and was actually `some what peeved' at actions of Drake.
But quite agree if Drake `F'ingham had lost the Aussie's may not now be speaking English (er do they) ???
Armada - yes
Trafalgar - definitely
Battle o Atlantic - yes
Battle o Sluis - Belgium - defeat of French Fleet. Twinned with the battle of CRECY
Battle o Britain - definitely

Here may I chuck in the words of Lord St Vincent when he was asked if the French would invade England - his reply `I do not say the Frenchies cannot come - I only say they cannot come by Sea' !!!!!!

Rule Britannia !!!!

Sadsac

[diddyriddick]

Here are my 5 in no particular order. Unless ya'll convince me otherwise.

1. Waterloo-Nuff Said.
2. Siege of Constantinople-Two things were at stake here. Control of the vital Bosporous straits, and whether Christendom or Islam controlled Constantinople. The Ottoman Turks won, and because of that Constantinople is now Istanbul.
3. Antietam-Abraham Lincoln needed a victory so that he could initiate the Emancipation Proclamation w/out it looking like desperation. He got it here, and it proved the deathnell of the Confederacy. At the risk of showing my American bias, the course of world history might have been markedly different had the battle gone the other way.
4. Tsushima Straits-For the first time, an oriental fleet took on a major European power. And won. It was the harbinger of things to come.
5. Battle of Hastings-How much different would the entire world be had the outcome been otherwise?